Church Of St Bartholomew

CHURCH OF ST BARTHOLOMEW

Parish church, built circa 1850, designed by Ewan Christian for Sarah Ann Leigh, the foundress, at a cost of £4000. The building is constructed in Kentish rag with Caen stone dressings, and features black tiled roofs with finials to the gables. The plan comprises a chancel, nave, south aisle, north chapel, south porch, and west tower, with a mid-20th-century north vestry added later.

The exterior demonstrates the high-quality Victorian Gothic Revival style throughout. The chancel and south aisle have east walls with angle buttresses. The chancel windows feature three lancet lights with trefoil heads, continuous labels and foliate stops; the aisle has an east window of a single similar lancet. A moulded rainwater head is dated 1849. The north vestry, a flat-roofed addition, has panelled stone coping and a vertically boarded door to its east wall. The north chapel is gabled with an ornate cross finial to the apex and a buttress to the left. The north vestry sits to the right and a further flat-roofed chapel addition to the left, with a buttress to the left of the nave wall. The north walls feature a range of windows—two, one, one, one from left to right—of two or three light lancets similar to those in the chancel, excepting the window to the north chapel which sits above a vertically boarded door with a Caernarvon head. This window has two lancet lights with a trefoil in a roundel tracery, a segmental pointed label with stops.

The west tower rises in three stages with buttresses to the first stage. It has a moulded plinth, bands marking each stage, and a nail-head eaves cornice. The first stage contains a two-light window with a trefoil over on the north wall and a west doorway with a chamfered two-centred arch with label and stops, fitted with a vertically boarded door with ornate iron hinges. The second stage has a clock face to the south and a west window similar to that on the first stage north. The third stage has two lancet lights with sounding louvres and a continuous label on each face. The tall shingle-tiled spire is surmounted by a weathercock and features timber gabled dormers with lancets and trefoiled bargeboards to each face.

The south wall has angle buttresses and a buttress to the left of the porch, with a range of three two-light lancet windows similar to those elsewhere. The long open porch features a moulded king post roof on timber supports with a low brick wall between, enclosed near the south door with glazed and panelled double doors. The south doorway has a moulded two-centred arch with label and foliate stops, with a vertically boarded door of ornate iron straps and hinges.

Interior features of note include:

Chancel: A side purlin roof with arched braces forming two-centred arches on wall posts with moulded timbers and wall plates. The east stained-glass window has three lancets with moulded capitals and bases to the side shafts. A moulded and foliate-stopped dado band runs along the walls. The chancel contains a carved bishop's chair and carved and moulded choir stalls. The south wall has a recessed "Easter Sepulchre" tomb to Sarah Ann Leigh, the foundress, dated 1850, with a marble slab, moulded capitals and bases to side shafts, and a trefoiled and enriched segmental pointed arch over. The north vestry doorway has a segmental arch. The wooden altar rails have moulded bases and carved foliate capitals. The floor is laid in coloured tiles. A large circular painting of the Madonna and Child in a heavily carved gilt frame hangs on the south wall. The two-centred chancel arch springs from three-shafted wall posts, each with ornate capitals, bases and pendants.

Nave: The roof is of seven-cant construction with scissor bracing and moulded wall plates. The south aisle has four bays with two-centred arches, moulded capitals and bases to the columns. A two-bay north aisle leads to the north chapel with similar arches. All pew ends and fronts are carved, mainly with two-centred arches with shafts, spandrels and pendants, with quatrefoils over. The floor is laid in red and black tiles. The pulpit stands on a large square stone base chamfered into an octagon, with carved lower chamfer stops and a carved cornice with six-pointed stars to the south and west faces, fitted with wrought-iron balusters and a wooden handrail to the stone steps. A brass lectern with a twisted stem and three support legs stands nearby. A carved wooden poor box on an octagonal stem with wrought-iron bands and hinges and an angel finial is also present.

North Chapel: The ceiling features five-cant lean-to roofs. The east window is blocked and segmental pointed. A pillar piscina on a circular stem with a moulded base stands here. The font is of 15th-century plain octagonal form, with an octagonal stem with a band and a chamfered base, retained from the old church. A 19th-century carved and crocketed octagonal spire font cover sits above it. A 15th-century wooden chest with iron bands, also from the old church, is preserved here.

South Aisle: The roof is of side purlin construction with moulded two-centred arch bracing on stone corbels. An octagonal stone font with a foliate soffit stands here, each face carved with inscriptions and scenes from the Life of Christ, on an octagonal stem and base. The organ occupies the east bay. The segmental pointed tower arch is glazed with four mullions. The lower panelling and vertically boarded central door has side panels of three trefoiled arches on shafts above which are carved fleuron panels. A carillion sounds the clock.

The church is of high quality craftsmanship and materials throughout. Its tall spire and elevated position make it a landmark visible for many miles.